Here’s Why Virtual Reality Doesn’t Work In Advertising

The other night, as I was watching Silicon Valley – HBO’s satirical take on tech start-up culture – one of the show’s more memorable characters, the obnoxious Steve Jobs wannabe Erlich Bachman, said this about the tech world’s latest obsession, Virtual Reality (VR):

“It’s a VR play,” Bachman scoffs. “That’s the frothiest space in the Valley right now. Nobody understands it, but everyone wants in. Any idiot could walk into a f#%king room, utter the letters ‘v’ and ‘r’, and VC’s would hurl bricks of cash at them.”

“By the time they find out it’s vaporware,” Bachman mutters. “It’s too late.”

And just like that, Bachman pretty much summed up my feelings on VR – especially as it relates to traditional advertising.